Revolution 2020?

To all those people who have been saying that my generation has had it easy and that the millennials are a ‘me’ generation, I want to say, we have found our fight and our voice.

Every few decades there is a new uprising, fighting for equality and fighting to end discrimination. Happy to say we have found our revolution. 2013 overall has been a good year for LGBTQ community in America, in the rest of the world, not so great. With eighteen states and counting, America is fighting, recognizing and legalizing gay marriage in the country. We are not going to live in shame anymore, we are not going to apologize for who we are. 

To quote Ayn Rand’s words in Anthem “Never, not in the memory of Ancient One’s Ancients never have men done that which we are doing. And yet there is no shame in us and no regret.”

Indian, Nigeria, Russia and 80something other countries on the other hand are regretfully moving in the wrong directions. With the latest criminalization of ‘gay sex’ and by extension oral sex, anal sex and public display of gay affection in these countries, the people have decided to ask the government/legislature to shut the fuck up. The bleak silver lining of the approval of section 377, is that this has brought the matter to the forefront. Because even if the supreme court had scratched the law today, a few years later some regressive politician would bring it up to appeal for votes from the backward communities. Because of this, I have hope that maybe it will be removed from the constitution itself and be laid to rest once and for all.

Never in a hundred years I had thought that I would ever have a conversation about homosexuality with my grand mom, but with the section 377 in bold giant headlines on every newspaper it was hard to not. Surprisingly she had a very cool view about it. By the time people are in their 70s they just learn to live and let live and with all the development they have seen in their lifetimes, this is something they just accept with nonchalance. My parents generation however is a totally different ball game. They are bent on hanging to ‘our culture’ which by the way totally allows for this. They are also bent on other random so called ‘norms’ that are totally made up. but thats a discourse for a different day. And to the religious who I will call fanatics who think this is not what God intended - let god do his work, stop trying to be God and make life hell on earth for people who you think are evil. 

I think what they struggle with most is - how different and alien it is to them. I have grown up seeing movies, reading books about and by bi/homosexual people. My most favorite TV personality of all times is Ellen Degeneres. She embodies everything I want to be - funny, elegant, gorgeous, boss. For me, someone’s sexual preference is not defining of who they are. For my parents* however it is something they never knew existed before 2002? I can say with 100percent certainty that the people they grew up with were too afraid to be out because they didn't know anyone else who was out and proud. So naturally, they think it is unnatural, peer pressure (as vague as that is), an affect of media, or a mental condition(yes, people think that).

Being an ally is also something that I struggle with personally. Having lived around aforementioned ignorant people, the only comeback if you want to call it that is - why do you care, are you gay? No I’m not, but if I was, it’s good to know how you feel about it. I do however believe in equality, I do have a moral sense of being human, I believe that if there could be only one freedom it should be the freedom to love. 

[this being said(written) I want to point out that we are also carrying forward the women equality torch, the fight for democracy torch, the end to patriarchy vigil as well. Because some communities are still dealing with those issues, believe it or not. I mean its almost 2014.] 

I say revolution 2020 with a question mark because the optimist in me hopes that by 2020 we will be in a better shape, however the realist and the cynic in me know it will take longer. And if you are reading this, I am assuming you are are educated, and if you are then I hope you agree with me - otherwise it reflects poorly on your education. 

*parents - when i say my parents, I don’t mean them per say cos they are cool, I mean their generation.